The Beginning of Never (The Never Trilogy #1) by O. E. Boroni Page B

harshness to my tone but it sounded as if I was flirting with him. I
cleared my throat.
    “And I replaced it,” he said. I found my temper again,
but it was barely flickering; the flame had gone out.
    “Still, you can’t just go around saying that I broke a
tray on your back. It makes me sound like I’m crazy.”
    James chuckled then, and the sound gave me the
distraction I so desperately needed. I turned to frown at him and he reigned in
the smile, but when I returned to Nathan, he had plugged in his earphones and
was eating again. I thought to tap his arm, but I had absolutely nothing left
to say so I just returned to my meal too. James however, wasn’t done.
    “I just knew there had to be an interesting story
behind it,” he said, the loud crunching sound he made as he chewed on what I
assumed had to be metal nuts for it to be that loud, digging into my eardrums
like tiny needles. “You’re the only girl I’ve seen him actually relate to, and
you didn’t chase him down. At least I hope you didn’t – you did pretend not to
know him the first time we met.”
    I shoved his elbow and he laughed. “Shut up,” I said,
worried that Nathan would overhear. “Why would I chase him down?”
    “Oh you haven’t heard?” he said. “I don’t blame you. I
didn’t believe the craze over him either until Valentine’s Day earlier this
year. His room was filled with gifts from apparently every girl in school. A lot of guys developed a grudge for him that
day.”
    I smiled despite myself. “Are you serious?”
    “I should be asking you that,” he said. “Why is this
news to you? Everyone knew about it.”
    “Well I didn’t,” I said, and his surprise dissipated. He popped another handful of
roasted almonds into his mouth. I cringed when he started chewing and returned
to my food.
    “He’s called the Italian bong ,” he said in a voice just above a whisper, and instantly, it
pulled a laugh out of me. I couldn’t help it.
    “What the hell does that mean?” I asked as I struggled
to keep my amusement under control.
    “I have no idea,” James said “And he’s not even
Italian!”
    From the corner of my eye, I saw Nathan look up. He
asked James what was going on.
    “Lenora just learned of your nickname,” he said, and I
turned just in time to see Nathan frown at James before he returned to his
meal. The fact that he didn’t even look at me quickly killed my smile.
    “Anyway, so far, you’re the closest thing to a friend
he has so –”
    I interrupted, “Trust me, we’re not friends.”
    “Trust me, you’ve come farther
than most.”
    “I wasn’t looking to come anywhere.”
    With a smile he nodded, and returned to his meal.
    A few moments later, the racket that had been slowly
rising over the last few minutes erupted, and we all looked up to see two girls
towards the middle of the hall on their feet and at opposite sides of the
table, yelling at each other. Everyone else was of course interested, so all
eyes had turned to them. I saw two teachers get up from their respective
corners of the room and start to approach them, but they weren’t quick enough.
    The insults came next – which I couldn’t hear clearly
above the noise – punctuated by cheers of encouragement, especially from the
boys. I returned to my meal, uninterested in the drama until all of a sudden,
the gasping sound of almost two thousand people brought my head back up.
    One of the girls had the top of her head completely
covered in spaghetti, and was dripping with tomato sauce. Her hands were up in
the air in shock, and everyone watched to see what she would do.
    Not surprisingly, she picked up a handful from her own
plate, but of course her opponent dodged the hit and it met the excited face of
a boy a table away from them. They were unlucky because the table was full of
boys, and so more excited than offended, they rose and aimed food back at their
entire table.
    And so the mess began. As I watched, horrified, I
couldn’t